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Please join us this Tuesday, July 26in Physics 175 for our next presentation in our PEGASUSSummerSeminarSeries.

Our next speaker is Vineet Kumar, who studies electromagnetic behaviour in curved spacetime.

There will be cookies and refreshments served beforehand at 3:00 pm in the lounge for those attending the seminar.

Title: Exact Solutions to Einstein-Maxwell theory

Abstract: We construct explicit analytical exact solutions to the four and higher dimensional Einstein-Maxwell theory. All solutions are constructed by embedding a solution to Einstein equations in higher dimensions. Several solutions will be briefly discussed including two helicoidal solutions, one embedding Schwarzschild and one embedding the Eguchi-Hanson space. In the case of the Eguchi-Hanson embedded solution, we find that the solutions can be extended to non-stationary exact solutions to Einstein-Maxwell theory with cosmological constant and that the solutions are asymptotically expanding patches of de-Sitter spacetime.

Please join us this Tuesday, July 19th in Physics 175 for our next presentation in our PEGASUSSummerSeminarSeries.

Our next speaker is Zhi Wei Wang, who investigates models to solve important problems in physics including dark matter.

There will be cookies and refreshments served beforehand at 3:00 pm in the lounge for those attending the seminar.

Title:The hidden world: Higgs, dark matter and conformal symmetry

Abstract: This talk will address the two most important topics in particle physics in the LHC era: Higgs and dark matter. The Higgs mass suffers from the well-known hierarchy/naturalness problem and a custodial symmetry is needed. In this talk, I will show conformal symmetry as a non-conventional custodial symmetry protects the Higgs mass from UV sensitivity. In addition, the Standard Model with hidden sector extensions provide ideal dark matter candidates and interesting collider signatures. Combining the idea of conformal symmetry and hidden sectors, I will introduce the conformally-symmetric hidden sector where both the hierarchy problem and dark matter are addressed.

Please join us this Tuesday, July 12th in Physics 126 (please note the temporary room number change!) for our next presentation in our PEGASUSSummerSeminarSeries.

Our next speaker is Thomas, who studies the properties of materials using computational methods and experimental techniques such as soft x-ray spectroscopy.

There will be cookies and refreshments served beforehand at 3:00 pm in the lounge for those attending the seminar.

Title: P-block elements – the next generation

Abstract:

Soft x-ray spectroscopy is an experimental technique that provides a unique perspective on many
important material properties. When combined with first principles electronic structure calculations, everything from the bulk band gap, to site-specific charge densities can be determined and understood. This talk will look at the application of these techniques to several technologically important nitrides and oxides, and emphasize how they can provide information on the structure-property relationships that are key to engineering new materials

There will be cookies and refreshments served beforehand at 3:00 pm in the lounge for those attending the seminar.

Title: 1^{-+} Light Hybrid Mesons and QCD Sum Rules

Abstract:

There is intense activity in the search of glueballs, light hybrids and multiquark states, either as supernumerary states with ordinary quantum numbers JPC, or as genuine exotics with JPC that cannot be matched by ordinary quantum numbers. In particular, evidence has been found for 1-+ states between 1 and 2 GeV by VES at Serpukhov, by E852 at Brookhaven, and by COMPASS at CERN, and the search continues at JLab by GLUEX. The structure of these states are still ambiguous. Four-quark states and hybrid states are the most possible explanations. To study these non-qq resonances beyond the conventional quark model, the Wilson coefficients of dimension-8 condensate contribution to the current-current correlator of 1−+ light hybrid current gq(x)γνiGμν(x)q(x) are calculated. With inclusion of these higher-power corrections and updating the input parameters, the mass of the 1−+ light hybrid meson are re-analyzed from Monte-Carlo based QCD sum rules. In this talk, the basic idea of the quark model and QCD sum rules will be briefly reviewed and then the results of calculation and numerical analysis will be presented.

Please join us this Tuesday, June 14th for our next presentation in our PEGASUSSummerSeminarSeries.

Our next speaker is Daniel Zawada, who studies atmospheric aerosols using OSIRIS.

There will be cookies and refreshments served beforehand at 3:00 pm in the lounge for those attending the seminar.

Title: Remote Sensing of the Atmosphere with Limb Scattered Sunlight

Abstract: Instruments such as the Optical Spectograph and InfraRed Imaging System (OSIRIS) have been taking spectral measurements of the atmospheric limb for more than a decade. The measurements can be inverted to obtain vertical number density profiles of trace species in the atmosphere, in particular, upper tropospheric and lower stratospheric ozone and sulfate aerosols. This talk will present an overview of the limb scatter technique and its advantages and disadvantages. We will focus on the tools and methods needed to invert the measurements to obtain vertical profiles of trace species.

Please join us this Tuesday, June 7th for our next presentation in our PEGASUSSummerSeminarSeries.

Our next speaker is Fred Sage, who researches particle dark matter and how to find it.

There will be cookies and refreshments served beforehand at 3:00 pm in the lounge.

Title: An Overview of Dark Matter Phenomenology

Abstract:The majority of matter in the universe is nonluminous and of unknown composition. It has been dubbed ‘dark matter’ for these reasons. The dark matter problem is one of the most pressing problems in both particle physics and astrophysics. This talk will provide an overview of the study of dark matter from a particle physics perspective. The evidence for the existence of dark matter will be reviewed, and the motivations for particle models of dark matter will be discussed. The talk will conclude with a description of experimental and observational searches for dark matter, including nuclear recoil searches, cosmic ray signals, and production in particle colliders.

Please join us this coming Tuesday for our next presentation in our PEGASUSSummerSeminarSeries.

Our next speaker is Lindsay Goodwin, who investigates ion thermodynamics in the ionosphere.

Please join us this Tuesday at 3:00 pm in the lounge for cookies and refreshments beforehand.

As well, please join us after the seminar for pizza and refreshments and take part in our Annual General Meeting.

Title: Investigating the Ion thermodynamics of the F region ionosphere.

Abstract: Ion heating by friction with neutral particles is known to have a significant impact on the F-region ion temperature in the presence of large electric fields, particularly when the ions become supersonic relative to the neutral background population with which they collide. However, what has not been fully characterized is the impact this heating has on ion temperature anisotropy, as well as the influence of these non-Maxwellian velocity distributions on the shape and interpretation of incoherent radar spectra. To study this, reconstructions of incoherent radar spectra made from Monte-Carlo simulations of velocity distributions are being analyzed along-side radar campaigns capable of giving insight into such things as the collision cross-section of different collisions (such as the resonant charge exchange of O+ ions with O). For this research, an experiment was devised to scrutinize the plasma along the magnetic meridian so as to extract electric field and ion temperature information at altitudes where frictional heating plays an important role. The results of this work indicate that, as expected, the line-of-sight component of the plasma drift extracted from different altitudes is consistent throughout the ionosphere above 150 km. However, owing to competition with processes such as heat exchange with electrons, neutral atmospheric uncertainties, and heat conduction from above, extracting information about the effect of frictional heating is difficult unless the electric field is very strong. Here, the first electric field and ion temperature results from these special magnetic meridian scanning modes will be shown.

Please join us this coming Tuesday for our next presentation in our PEGASUSSummerSeminarSeries.

Our next speaker is Gaelene Lerat, who investigates atmospheric plasma dynamics utilizing both satellites from the AMPERE project as well as SuperDARN data.

Please join us this Tuesday at 3:00 pm in the lounge for cookies and refreshments beforehand.

Title: Space Weather: Finding Field-Aligned Currents during Substorms

Abstract: Near-Earth space is a region whose dynamics are best described by plasmas and the currents they form. To understand the chain of events that leads to space weather phenomena, the connections of the solar wind to the magnetosphere to the ionosphere by such currents need to be understood. In particular, during substorms currents are formed between the magnetosphere and the ionosphere, and a view of incoming and outgoing currents would illustrate the structure of what is called the substorm current wedge. Two scientific tools are considered to do just that in this presentation: the magnetometers aboard the Iridium satellite constellation in the AMPERE project and the radar network SuperDARN. A comparison between AMPERE and SuperDARN methods will be given, as well as the results for a superposed epoch analysis for AMPERE (SuperDARN results up-and-coming).

Our first speaker for the PEGASUSsummer student seminarseries is Devon Huyghebaert, whose research utilizes the ICEBEAR radar system. Please join us this Tuesday at 3:00 pm in the lounge for cookies and refreshments beforehand.

Title: The ICEBEAR Radar – Hardware and Capabilities

Abstract: Ionospheric radars will be discussed, with a focus on E-region radars and the new ICEBEAR radar.
The talk will delve into the workings of radar systems and signal processing, culminating with an introduction to the ICEBEAR radar. How are radio waves affected by plasma? What can we learn by probing a plasma hundreds of kilometers away using radio waves? What hardware is required in an advanced digital radio/radar system to transmit and receive radio signals? What does ICEBEAR stand for? These all important questions will be answered at the seminar.

There are a number of useful reference management seminars being offered through the University of Saskatchewan Library; take a look at their offerings for the remainder of the Fall 2015 semester. If you haven’t yet developed a system to manage your references, it’s a good opportunity to investigate different tools to make writing papers and citing references as easy as possible. Some upcoming workshops are listed below.

Zotero

Nov. 3, 12:00 – 1:00, Murray Library, Rm. 145

Instructor: Carolyn Doi

Zotero is a freely available, open source program which allows you to easily save, organize, and cite all of your references. It is available as an extension in Mozilla Firefox or a standalone program. This session offers attendees an introduction to Zotero and how it may be used for library research.

Comprehensive Lit Review – Part B

Nov. 4, 3:30 – 4:30, Murray Library, Rm. 161

Instructor: Li Zhang

This session will describe the reasons for doing a comprehensive literature review, and will focus on designing a search strategy for databases with subject headings such as Medline, ERIC, and PsycINFO. We will briefly cover saving your search, and writing up your literature review.

Mendeley

Nov. 17, 12:00 – 1:00, Murray Library, Rm. 145

Instructor: Carolyn Doi

Mendeley is a free reference manager and academic social network that can help you organize your research, collaborate with others online, and discover the latest research. Automatically generate bibliographies, collaborate easily with other researchers online, easily import papers from other research software, find relevant papers based on what you’re reading, access your papers from anywhere online, read papers on the go with the iPhone app. This session offers attendees an introduction to Mendeley and how it may be used for library research.